‘Go ahead.’
I clicked the phone open.
‘Hello? Sally Proctor.’
I waited expectantly. But once again, there was nothing but silence at the other end of the line. Well – I say nothing. Actually I could distinctly hear someone breathing.
‘Is that Alice?’ I asked. No reply. ‘Alice, if that is you, please speak to me,’ I said. ‘Look, all I want to do is ask you a few questions about Dawn. I know you might find it upsetting to talk about her, but I need to know . . .’
I never got any further. The line had gone dead again.
‘Damn!’ I clicked the phone off, set it down on the table. ‘That’s twice that’s happened!’
Josh was looking at me quizzically, and I explained.
‘I’d really like to talk to her, ask her about Dawn’s friends . . . and enemies,’ I finished. ‘She worked with her, she’s the perfect one to help me. But when it comes to the point, she just won’t speak. It is so frustrating!’
‘She hasn’t said anything at all?’ Josh asked.
‘Not a word. All I can hear is breathing.’
‘You’re sure it is her?’
‘Who else would it be? And the very fact that she is so reluctant to speak to me makes me think she must know something. She seems frightened, and I don’t know why. Unless, like me, she thinks there’s a connection between the fire and Dawn’s death. That Brian Jennings was wrongly convicted, and whoever set the fire did it with the intention of getting Dawn out of the way, either by killing her, or by frightening her off. And when that didn’t work, they found another way.’
Josh huffed breath over his top lip in a silent whistle.
‘You really think that’s a possibility?’
‘Well, one thing is absolutely certain. The hit-and-run driver couldn’t possibly be Brian Jennings. And I think it’s highly suspicious that she should be killed like that so soon after she was apparently targeted in the fire.’
For a long moment Josh was silent.
‘I’m beginning to be convinced I’m on to something,’ I said.
Josh opened his mouth to say something, then simply shook his head and looked down at his coffee.
‘What?’ I asked.
He looked up at me again, his expression very serious.
‘Are you sure this is a good idea, Sally?’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked, puzzled.
‘You could be playing with fire here.’ He raised a hand in acknowledgement of the unintended pun. ‘I’m not sure you’ve thought this through. ‘Look, suppose you’re right, and Brian Jennings was wrongly convicted – that has to mean someone else was responsible, someone who thinks they’ve got away with it. How do you think they’ll react if they find out you’re asking awkward questions? If there is anything to find out, and if the real culprit thinks you’re getting anywhere near the truth . . . do you really think they wouldn’t do whatever was necessary to stop you? And if there really is a link between the fire and the accident that killed Dawn, then that just makes it all the worse.’
His words were chilling, and with a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach I realized he was right. I’d been so caught up in the excitement of investigating my story I hadn’t stopped to consider the implications of what I was doing. But, to be honest, even now it didn’t feel real.
‘There’s probably nothing in it at all,’ I said breezily. ‘I’m just chasing shadows.’
‘If you say so.’
‘In any case,’ I added defiantly. ‘I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.’
‘That may very well be what Dawn thought,’ Josh said.
Though we left it there, for a little while that sobering conversation cast a cloud over the evening, and I couldn’t help wondering, too, about the two mysterious phone calls. Had it been Alice on the line, and, if so, why didn’t she say something? Or was it someone else entirely? Silent phone calls did happen sometimes, I knew – perhaps the first one had been a wrong number, or just a shot in the dark, and when I answered the caller knew they had reached a female, and had rung the number again for the sheer hell of it. I couldn’t really believe it was more sinister than that, and yet it was another coincidence that it should have happened today, when I’d been making enquiries about Dawn Burridge. No, on balance it had to be Alice. But I really couldn’t understand why she would ring my number twice only to change her mind about speaking to me when I answered.
I had no intention of letting it spoil my evening, though. I was enjoying myself too much. Josh and I had connected in a way I couldn’t remember ever connecting with anyone before. I hadn’t felt this relaxed with Tim when I’d first met him, rather I’d been in awe of his glamour, and nervous of putting a foot wrong. This was quite different. Besides fancying him, it felt as if we’d known one another for years instead of days. Worrying about the phone calls, and Josh’s warning, could wait for another day.